Son sought in Blackstone homicide is arrested in N.J.

Thursday

Jan 12, 2017 at 5:37 PMJan 12, 2017 at 8:56 PM

By Craig S. Semon, Telegram & Gazette

BLACKSTONE, Mass. — An 83-year-old man was found slain in his home and his 48-year-old son, who once served prison time for threatening President Bill Clinton, has been taken into custody in New Jersey, according to the Worcester district attorney's office.

Police doing a well-being check found Walter Armstrong dead in his bedroom at 36 Summer St. around 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

His son, Glenn Armstrong, was identified as a person of interest in the death, which Mr. Early termed a homicide.

Authorities believed he had driven to New Jersey, Mr. Early said in an afternoon news conference. About 8:20 p.m., Timothy J. Connolly, a spokesman for Mr. Early, said Glenn Armstrong had been taken into custody in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

Mr. Connolly said details were limited but apparently Mr. Armstrong ran out of gas in or near Mount Laurel. He was taken into custody without incident, Mr. Connolly said, and arrested on a Massachusetts warrant on a charge of failing to submit DNA. The Worcester district attorney's office will work to bring him back to Worcester County, Mr. Connolly said.

The chief medical examiner's office has accepted the Blackstone case and an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death, Mr. Early said.

"I can't get into motive but I can tell you this. The younger Mr. Armstrong is well-known to the Blackstone police. He has served several sentences in the past, one of those in 1994, for threatening to kill President Bill Clinton," Mr. Early said Thursday afternoon. "He received a sentence in 2015 for about 9 months, so he was released in about the last year and a half ...; That was for assault and battery."

For threatening President Clinton in 1994, Glenn Armstrong was sentenced to 21 months in prison and was credited with time he had already served. U.S. District Court Judge Edward F. Harrington also ordered Armstrong to serve 3 years of supervised release and to undergo psychiatric therapy and supervised medication at the University of Massachusetts hospital in Worcester.

Glenn Armstrong, who lived in Uxbridge at the time, was arrested Aug. 29, 1994, at the Steamship Authority ferry terminal in Woods Hole after telling a ticket agent he needed to kill the president. The Steamship Authority ferries serve Martha's Vineyard, where the president was on vacation with his family.

Glenn Armstrong, listed as an unemployed construction worker at the time, was charged with threatening to commit murder, said Mike Johnston, assistant special agent-in-charge of the Boston office of the Secret Service.

The threat against President Clinton came just a few weeks after Mr. Armstrong was detained for about three hours by Secret Service agents at the entrance to President George H.W. Bush's home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Friends and acquaintances of Mr. Armstrong said he blamed the presidents for taking away his children.

When sentenced, Mr. Armstrong said he envied the fame of those who have assassinated or attempted to assassinate presidents.

Mr. Early said the more recent assault and battery took place at a Blackstone bar.

"Police were called to the scene. There were disruption and violence, threats of violence with the bartender. Police did show up and it was a pretty severe altercation (in) which he was tased and subdued," Mr. Early said.

Thursday afternoon, authorities said Glenn Armstrong might be driving a 1995 black Chevrolet S-10 pickup with an extended cab, with a Massachusetts license plate 1TS 599. Mr. Early said there was arrest warrant for the younger Mr. Armstrong alleging he had failed to give a court-ordered DNA sample.

It was believed that Glenn Armstrong left the Blackstone area Wednesday night and had reached the New Jersey area by Thursday afternoon, Mr. Early said. Thursday night, Mr. Connolly said initial reports from New Jersey indicated Mr. Armstrong was driving the S-10 when it ran out of gas.

Police had put out his description, with pictures: 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, with an image of a Native American female tattooed on his left chest and surgical scars on his lower back.

It is believed that the son was living with the father in Blackstone at the time of the slaying, Mr. Early said.

State police detectives assigned to the Worcester district attorney's office, other state police, Blackstone police, Rhode Island State Police and the New Jersey sheriff's office have been involved in the investigation.

Anyone with information that may be helpful to police is asked to call the Blackstone Police Department at (508) 883-1212 or the Massachusetts State Police at (508) 829-8420.